Street-railway track.



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IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 0V. 21, 1902.

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Y N @QN M'hzegse: e 01;: d f 1l M y UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIc JOHN SOANLAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STREET-RAILWAY TRACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 719,512, dated February 3, 1903. Application tiled November 2l, 1902. Serial No. 132,229. (N0 model- Be it known that I, JOHN SCANLAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illi- 5 nois, have .invented a new and useful Improvement in Street-Railway Tracks,of which the following is a specification.

It is a commonY practice in street-railway construction to employ a rail of such crosssection that the track is useful not only for the railwaycars, but also for traffic-wagons and other vehicles. In the ordinary construction the rails are provided with Hanges eX- tending inwardly toward the center of the track, the upper surfaces of the flanges being at a sufficient distance below the level of the tread of the rail to allow for the flange of the car-wheel and permit the tread of the carwheel to rest upon The tread of the rail. As a result of this difference of level between the rail-flange and rail-tread a wall is formed on each rail, and in the present manner of laying the track the rail-flanges are both incide of the said walls-that is to say, toward fille center of the track. These walls form an rimpediment to the wagon-wheels when an at- "ampt is made to turn out of the track, and

i the case of heavily-loaded wagons this impediment is a serious one, for the rear wheels tend to remain in the track for a considerable distance after the front wheels have left it, and if while the rear wheels are thus sliding along at an angle with the track they come into contact with a stone or other obstacle there is a great danger that the wheel thus interfered with will give way. Frequent delays in traflic are due to this cause.

It is the object of my present invention to construct a track which will afford trackway for wagons and other vehicles, as well as railway-cars, and which will facilitate the turning ont of such wagons without decreasing the security of the cars upon the rails. I attain this object by the construction shown in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure l is a plan View of a track embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof, taken` on the line 2 2, Fig. l, and looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view showing the arrangement of the rails in a double-track road and the dierent positions which a car and a wagon would assume thereon.

In the use of the words left and right hereinafter it is considered that the View is taken in the direction of the arrows on the line 2 2, Fig. l.

Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The rail-flange 1 extends laterally from the rail-tread 2, but has its upper surface at a less height than the upper surface of said tread` the wall 3 being thereby formed at the junction of said flange and tread. The foot 4 of the rail is mounted upon the cross-ties 5 in the usual manner. The surface of the pavement 6 is substantially on a level with the top of the rails. In my track construction instead of having the iianges l both extending toward the center of the track the rails are so laid that lthe flange of rail a at the left, Fig. 2, extends toward the center of the track, but the flange of rail b at the right extends outwardly-that is to say, both anges of the pair of rails extend in the same direction.

By my construction when the wheels of a wagon are in position upon the flanges 1, as shown iu Fig. 3, the wagon may easily turn out to the right, or in a direction away from the rail-treads 2, the walls 3 not being in a position to interfere. If it is desired to turn out to the left, the wagon will first be driven 'a short distance to the right, and when the wheels have left the rails the wagon will be turned toward the left, when the wheels will be found to cross the rails without difficulty on account of the fact that they then cross the tracks more nearly at right angles thereto.

The car-wheel iianges commonly engage the rails on the inner edge of the rail-tread, as shown at the left portion of Fig. 3', and in order to provide room for the wheel-flange a space '7 is left between the tread l of the right rail b and the adjacent portion of the pavement 6. When stone paving-blocks are used, as shown in the drawings,.a spacing block 8 is located between the inner surface of rail b and the adjacent paving `block, thereby eectually preventing the too close approach of said block to the rail.

In constructing a double-track road. the

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rails are arranged as shown in Fig. 3, the iianges on rails a and b on the left track extending toward the left and the iianges upon the rails c and d on the right extending toward the right. By this arrangement a wagon can always turn most readily outward in a direction away from the track at the drivers left. v

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A street-railway track having the railflanges both extending laterally in the same direction.

2. A double street-railway track,each track consisting of a pair of flanged rails having their flanges extending away from the rails of the other track.

3. In a street-railway, a pair of rails each having a tread and a flange, the flange of one extending toward the second rail but the ange of the said second rail extending away from the flange of the first-mentioned rail.

4. In a street-railway track, a pair of rails, each having a flange and a tread, the fiange of only one of said rails extending away from the other rail of the pair; in combination with a pavement and awheel-fiange s ce between case in the Patent Office.

[SEAL] said pavement and the tread of the rail having the outwardly-extending ange.

5. In a street-railway track, the combination of rails each having a flange and a tread, the flanges of said rails extending both in the same direction; a pavement; and a distance-piece between one of said rails and the inter-rail portion of the pavement for retaining the inter-rail pavement at a distance from the tread of one of said rails, thereby affording a space between said pavement and said rail-tread for the flange of a car-wheel.

6. In a street-railway track a pair of rails, a single tread upon each of said rails for supporting a car-wheel; a single flange upon each of said rails for supporting a wagonwheel, said flanges both extending in the same direction from said pair of rails; a pavement; va wheel-flange space located between said rails and adjacent to one of the railtreads; and a distance-piece vfor preventing the pavement from closing said Wheel-ange space.

JOHN SOANLAN.

Witnesses:

EDWIN B. H. TOWER, Jr., M. R. RocHFoRD.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 719,512, granted February 3, 1908,. upon the'application of John Scanlon, of Chicago, Illinois, for an improvement iny Street-Railway Tracks, an error appears in the printed specification requiring cor-- rection, as follows: In line 27, page 2, the omitted letters pa should be inserted, making the imperfect word read space; and that the said Letters Patent should beA read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of they Signed and sealed this 24th day of' February, A. D., 1903.

F. I. ALLEN,

Commissioner of Patents. 

